Kalithogai

Kalithogai is a classical Tamil poetic work.  It is one of the book of Eight Anthologies (Ettuthokai), in Sangam literature. It contains 150 poems and was written by various authors. The poems of anthology are dated around 100 BCE and 400 CE. The poems are categorized into five thinais or landscapes, according to the mood and subject matter conforming to the Tamil  sangam landscape. The first part (2-36) deals with “Paalai” landscape setting, the second part (37-65) with “kurinchi” landscape, the third (66-100) with “marutham” landscape, the fourth (101-117) with “mullai” landscape and the fifth (118-150) with “neital” landscape.  These five sections were each written by a separate author.

The poet Perunkadunkon wrote the “paalai” songs. The poet Kapilar is attributed to the “kurinchi” songs, The poet Ilanaagan wrote the “marutham” songs, The poet Cholan Nalluruthiran wrote “mullai” songs and the poet Nallanthuvan wrote the “neithal” songs.

During 6th or 7th centruy CE, Nachinarkiniyar, a Tamil scholar has annotated this work. Later, in 1887 C. W. Thamotharampillai, recollected and published in book format. Again,  E. V. Anantaramaiyar, reworked and published  Kalithogai in three phases. In 1924, he first published the poems on “paalai and kurinchi” landscapes. In 1925, he published second phase poems on “marutham and mullai” landscapes. In 1931, he published third phase poem on “neithal” landscapes along with phrase dictionary for Kalithogai, which is considered to be reference for all the later publications on this anthology.

Link for Kalithogai anthology in Tamil: http://www.tamilvu.org/library/l1260/html/l1260ind.htm

Link for Kalithogai anthology in English: https://sangamtranslationsbyvaidehi.com/ettuthokai-kalithokai-palai-1-36/